Halloween: An Epilogue
by EnsoDancer
Summary: A one-shot with no accompanying story that looks at the events after the Halloween festivities.


Splinter surveyed his sons as four sets of eyes stared at him pleadingly. He couldn't help but smile at his youngest who was bouncing unabashedly in his seat at the dinner table, a wide grin splitting his features. Even the usually more docile Leonardo and Donatello seemed to have ants in their shells as they fidgeted and waited to be excused. And Raphael looked like he might literally explode with anticipation.

"Well..." Splinter teased taking his time "are you sure none of you would like seconds? I thought the carrots were delicious and we do not often get the chance to have them."

"Nope"

"No thank you, Father"

"Uh un"

"That's ok," they all quickly and simultaneously answered.

"Alright, alright," letting a rare chuckle escape him he couldn't torture them any longer "put your dish in the sink and you may be excused."

The words had barely left his lips before the four six year olds clumsily raced each other to the sink and then sped out of the kitchen toward their bedroom, throwing quick thanks you's over their shoulders.

"But not too much, you'll get sick! And bed time is in half an hour! " Splinter called to them as an afterthought, though he doubted they had heard him.

Shaking his head he was about to get up and begin clearing the table when a small freckled torpedo came bounding toward him,jumped up in this lap, squeezed his neck and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"I love you soooooo much!" Michelangelo chirped before jumping down and running to catch his brothers.

Basking in the pure and innocent love that can only be given by a child, Splinter sat a few moments longer and smiled to himself. He certainly didn't relish what the sugar he was sure his sons were now ingesting would do to their teeth. Not to mention taking them to the surface to collect it door to door had caused his fur to gray quite a bit. However, now he was sure it had been worth it, to give his beloved sons one night to be just like every other kid in the city was a priceless opportunity.

_"I love you more,"_ he thought with a sigh before getting up to finish cleaning _"you'll never know how much._"

...

Climbing onto the bottom of the bunk bed he shared with Leo, Mikey dumped his pillow case out on his sheet as his brothers had already done and stared wide-eyed at the glorious stash. Grabbing the first thing to catch his attention he quickly pealed the wrapper from a piece of milk chocolate and popped it in his mouth whole. Then he gleefully ate another and another, barely taking time to swallow or chew.

"You better slow down Mikey, you heard what Father said," Leo admonished as he hung over from the top bunk to eye his little brother below.

"Oh shut up Leo, you're supposed to _eat_ the candy, not just look at it like you and brainiac down there" Raph laughed indicating Donnie in the bunk beneath him.

"First of all, if Father hears you saying that word again you probably won't have any candy or be able to sit down and second if Mikey gets sick he'll probably puck all day tomorrow and make everyone miserable" Leo snapped smugly.

"Uh un, I won't get sick, I'm not a baby " Mikey defended himself, mouth full with another piece of candy. "Besides, what are you guys gonna do with yours if you're not gonna eat it?"

"Well I am going to eat mine," Donnie finally joined the conversation "I'm just counting and categorizing it first. You see this is chocolate, this stack is for taffies and this is for..."

"Oh give me a break...," Raph said "leave it to Donnie-boy to turn Halloween into schoolwork, gimme that."

Hanging upside down over the side of the bed and hoping to play keep away, Raph grabbed for the pad of paper Donnie was writing on but was too slow as Donnie jerked his hand and the pad back, knocking some of his meticulous piles over in the process.

"Now look what you made me do" Donnie whined.

"Oh whatever," Raph said sitting back.

"Well don't come crying to me when all you've got left is gum because you didn't do an inventory!" Donnie huffed an then returned to writing and fixing his stacks.

"Hey, you aint gotta worry about me, I think I probably gots more than any of you anyway." Raph spat as he gnawed on a piece of red licorice.

"We all got the exact same, Raph~eal" Leo tried to imitate their Father.

"I don't know, I'm pretty sure I saw a couple more pieces go in my bag," Mikey grinned bits of candy stuck to his teeth "but don't feel bad I'm just 'tooo cute', the lady said so."

POOF! Mikey was stunned when a pillow hit him square in the face.

"Ohh, ha, ha ha" Raph chuckled loudly "you hit him dead on Donnie, maybe you do know how to have fun!"

And with that Donnie jumped off his bed and threw his other pillow up at Raph, who immediately through it back at him, laughing the entire time. And before long an epic pillow fight erupted amongst the four sugar hyped children. Mikey flung his pillow at Donnie and Raph got to Leo who was trying to pretend he was too mature for such nonsense.

Soon they were all in fits and giggles as the joy from what had been the most magical experience of their young lives enveloped not only them but also the ninja master who was stealthily observing at the door.

_"Happy Halloween my sons,"_ he thought while laughing to himself _"Happy Halloween, indeed."_

* * *

A/N: As always any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading.


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